http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...ntion-to-detail-fuels-dolphins-culture-change
"We're trying to put last year behind us while also learning from it," Gase said. "We learned a lot about guys because almost every game came down to the fourth quarter and we had to make plays. People can call it luck, but there's no such thing. You create your own luck. We found out when it gets tight, who will step up. And we had a lot of guys with no experience step up and make plays. When we get into difficult times, my confidence will be up."
Gase is referring to the fact that Miami won eight games by seven points or less. Even with the Dolphins playing a last-place schedule, those types of numbers do speak to the mental toughness he instilled in a relatively short time. He's also well aware of the main reasons why the Pittsburgh Steelers dominated them in a 30-12 AFC wild-card loss. As good as the Dolphins were in the clutch, they also made the kind of mistakes that can keep a young, talented team from reaching its full potential.
This explains the amount of time Gase and his staff have devoted this offseason to showing players how seemingly small errors can have a profound impact in big games. In that loss to Pittsburgh alone, two blown assignments cost them a shot at a possible 14 points.
"We've really been focusing on attention to details," Dolphins wide receiver Kenny Stills said. "We looked at a lot of the mistakes we made last year, and we realized that sometimes you have to be put in a certain positon to learn from a mistake. We did a really good job of going through the mistakes we made last season and correcting them. We've made a big emphasis on the idea that (one) person's mistake is everyone's mistake."
"We're trying to put last year behind us while also learning from it," Gase said. "We learned a lot about guys because almost every game came down to the fourth quarter and we had to make plays. People can call it luck, but there's no such thing. You create your own luck. We found out when it gets tight, who will step up. And we had a lot of guys with no experience step up and make plays. When we get into difficult times, my confidence will be up."
Gase is referring to the fact that Miami won eight games by seven points or less. Even with the Dolphins playing a last-place schedule, those types of numbers do speak to the mental toughness he instilled in a relatively short time. He's also well aware of the main reasons why the Pittsburgh Steelers dominated them in a 30-12 AFC wild-card loss. As good as the Dolphins were in the clutch, they also made the kind of mistakes that can keep a young, talented team from reaching its full potential.
This explains the amount of time Gase and his staff have devoted this offseason to showing players how seemingly small errors can have a profound impact in big games. In that loss to Pittsburgh alone, two blown assignments cost them a shot at a possible 14 points.
"We've really been focusing on attention to details," Dolphins wide receiver Kenny Stills said. "We looked at a lot of the mistakes we made last year, and we realized that sometimes you have to be put in a certain positon to learn from a mistake. We did a really good job of going through the mistakes we made last season and correcting them. We've made a big emphasis on the idea that (one) person's mistake is everyone's mistake."
